Debunking “The Secret” And The Law Of Attraction
Some spirituality attraction teachings are true, and some are not

You are
We have all heard about how we are what we think, we are what we “put out into the universe.” If you have only negative energy, the theory goes, you will attract only negativity through your stubborn, and unyielding “mindset.” Think positively, and you reap what you sow.
It’s true is some ways, but not in every way.
I go all kinds of crazy when I hear this type of talk. Yes, we have natural laws of attraction. The four known ones are the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force and gravity. The strong and weak nuclear forces operate at the subatomic scale. They are often what gurus refer to when they say all of us are “vibrational energy.”
So we are. But there is much more to it than that. One aspect I see almost entirely left out in discussions of our mindset and thought waves is the simple fact that we are not separate selves. We could not, in the known universe, control all that comes and goes out of our brains, especially unconsciously.
We are organic creatures ruled by a neutral force called Nature. Nature uses the laws of physics to organize and run systems. Organisms, (that’s us) are wholly integrated into these systems. Deep breathing is wonderful, healthy, and spiritual, but you can’t do it without ocean algae and forests.
These forces, and substances, are “us.”
Abundance is a rule of the universe, too, but not due to benevolence. To turn Einstein’s famous observation another way: “God does not play favorites in the Universe.” That would show bias, which in human terms, always leads to bloodshed. No thanks, then, to a biased God, or “Universe.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but books and articles about laws of attraction seem primarily focused on the human mind as if it is powerful in and of itself, without the trillions of connections to air, water, food, soil, sunlight, and more that we are composed of as material beings.
Even on the official website of The Law of Attraction, the big news is that “thoughts can become things.” You can manifest what you need with your powerful mind.
The problem is, you can’t. If I want to manifest putting all of Yosemite National Park on a far -flung moon of Jupiter (Europa is uncrowded!) I can’t do it despite my need, even if California completely burns up this decade.
Change your life — it’s not what you think
On the other hand, positive affirmations, even prayer, have been shown to work due to the placebo effect, and our strong, social affiliations for fellow organisms. Our biophilia attractions are the REAL law of attractions. Although our place on Earth due to our separation from nature is testy at present — what with all the killing of our life-sustaining biosphere — our natural belonging to Earth is not focused upon nearly enough in some attraction teachings.
They tend to leave the “life” part out of “change your life!” Because they use “life” to mean something that belongs to you (a consumerist “mindset,”) rather than the truth — which is that life IS you and you belong to life, not the other way around. You are biology, a particle of a greater whole based on physics and evolution together.
Although some vague references are made to such Universal truths, it seems to always show up not as the creator that made you, but setting you up as the sole architect of your fate.
Much of false law of attraction literature asks you to note synchronicity as proof that your thoughts are working. But, patternicity is a universal human trait very easy to confuse with “the Universe is talking specifically to ME!”
Burning desire
I brought up California deliberately, because in my humble view our collaborative relationships to one another, establishing equality, defending Earth from toxins and overheating, are not going to happen with positive thoughts alone, but with extreme determination to change a me-centered mind into a we-centered mind.
At the center of the secret law of attraction lies the “like attracts like,” concept. Basically, the promoters are saying that you are what you think, you manifest positivity with positive thoughts.
This is both true and false.
Too many people come to think their negativity causes all their bad luck. Yes and no. You can be an oppressed minority, or a dead child in the GAZA, or in a refugee camp, not due to your own negative thoughts. (Except in the sense that we create in-groups and out-groups, with “negative thoughts” involved that are programmed in from both heritability and societal cues).
We spend more precious time trying to think positively, than in acting courageously to demand justice. Justice is seldom sunshine and lollipop thoughts. It often takes mental and brutal struggles that will sometimes feel uncomfortable, if not downright “negative,”
Please don’t buy into the idea that you can cure your own cancer, or create a super-human immune system. For the next coming plague, do what the scientists advise.
Part of the world we are actually manifesting is loaded with pathogens, often due to our actions and refusal to see the “negative” truth. To ignore reality is to highlight your separateness, not your belonging, to a place with laws, and limits, of nature.
To see ourselves as enlightened, wise, and powerful, requires not that we just cut out: “No. Don’t. Can’t. Won’t.” and so on. It requires us to see both beautiful, positive truth and ugly, negative truth.
Don’t feel guilty when you are mad, sad, or even bad. Feel it fully, accept your humanness and then let it go in whatever way gives you the most satisfaction. Visit negativity, but don’t live there. Embrace positivity, but don’t wear rose-colored glasses just because your neighborhood is on fire. Face it, and be part of the solution.
The trick to mental, physical, and spiritual health is accepting that “into each life some rain must fall.” That rain also grows the trees, to oxygenate your blood, to have thoughts, to acquire consciousness, to be one aspect of living “awareness” of the universe.
Our burning desire is not to control, but to belong. It is evident to anyone who has felt both small, aware, and astonished, beneath a blazing glory of stars, or in a cathedral-like forest.
Unplug and open up
These biophilic laws of attraction are life-lines, or active affinities. In ecopsychology, we don’t dwell on the power of your thoughts, but on the power of your belonging.
When you are outside, for example, if you set down all your gadgets (and self-help guides), you can open your senses and feel a true, and natural attraction to a flower, a bird, a rushing stream, a purple field, a mountain, the tang of a tangerine. Whatever “pulls” your attention. Try it.
Those attractions are demonstrably real, and have been used for centuries to heal and calm. Modernity threatens this.
You must use mindfulness, not mindset, to find them. These natural life lines are calling you, we just don’t notice them anymore.
Getting that big promotion, or fantastic new car, pales in comparison, because material things solve only our material needs. These do matter, but they don’t last. Only in sharing can we feel any “power” of wealth.
On our human time-scale, material triumphs are more ephemeral than dust. Life in gratitude to belonging to something greater than the self is as eternal as the stars.